
Class 

Book 

Copyright}* 10 . 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




W. W. STALEY, D. D. 



THE MINISTER 



A Series of Five Addresses 

Bu REV. W. W. STALEY, D. D. y LL. D. 
Pastor of Suffolk, Virginia, Christian Church, Since 1 882 



Delivered at " The Seaside Chautauqua and School of Methods," 

Virginia Beach, Virginia, July 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 1914 

with introduction by Rev. A. W. Lightbourne, 

D. D., Pastor of the People's Church, 

Dover, Delaware 



Published for the Author by 

THE CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 

DAYTON, OHIO 

1915 



y <o<\* 



Copyright, 1915 
By W. W. Stalky 




MAR I5i9l5 
©CU393972 



CONTENTS 



n 



Introduction 



CHAPTER ONE. 
The Minister in His Study 9 

CHAPTER TWO. 
The Minister in His Personal Life - - 23 

CHAPTER THREE. 

The Minister in His Pulpit 87 

CHAPTER FOUR. 
The Minister in His Parish - - - 53 

CHAPTER FIVE 
The Minister in His Community - - <;7 



INTRODUCTION 



THESE addresses on the Christian Ministry 
are unique in their combination of com- 
prehensiveness and condensation. They 
are replete with suggestion, adequate in concep- 
tion, and forthright and epigrammatic in 
expression. After reading these addresses many 
far more pretentious volumes will suffer by 
comparison. It has been my good fortune to 
hear this subject discussed by those who were 
themselves models of the preacher's sublime 
art. It was my privilege to hear these ad- 
dresses, and in my humble opinion they are, in 
some very important respects, superior to any 
previous deliverances on this great theme. 

I desire particularly to commend the style 
here employed. There is no rhetorical splurge 
or garish display. Too much color is as sus- 
picious in composition as in complexion. Here 



is strength rather than sheen : force rather than 
flare. There are no trick phrases, no artful 
alliterations, no startling antitheses, and no 
attempt to cover deficiencies in thought and 
argument wit'h the gloss of verbal veneer. 
Brevity, clarity, simplicity, are here combined 
with the deepest reflections and the most 
striking and appropriate forms of expression 
and illustration. In scholarship, mental poise, 
intuitive perception, terse and luminous phrase- 
ology, the author is one of the best-equipped 
men to conduct such a series of didactic ad- 
dresses for the benefit of young preachers. 

The author has exalted his theme. The 
preacher is here presented in his call, his prepa- 
ration, his mission, his message, his methods of 
study and work, his personal Christian experi- 
ence, and his private and public life. One is 
surprised to find so much included, and so little 
omitted, in a volume of this size. May God 
speed it upon its carer of usefulness and make 
it a blessing and inspiration to those for whom 
it is intended. 

A. W. LIGHTBOURNE. 

Dover, Delaware. 



CHAPTER ONE 



IN HIS STUDY 



THE MINISTER IN HIS STUDY 



I 



<<f WILL stand upon my watch, and set me 
upon the tower, and will watch to see what 
he will say unto me, and what I shall answer 
when I am reproved." (Hab. 2:1.) Habakkuk 
wanted to know God's message for men through 
him : and that is the high privilege and plain 
duty of all ministers. His Study is the "watch- 
tower," the "Holy of Holies" where Shekinah 
glory illumines his soul with visions and mes- 
sages. Paul exhorts ministers to "study to 
show themselves approved unto God ; workmen 
that need not be ashamed." This suggests "a 
study;" and this study is the mint where his 
gold is coined. Here he broods over kingdom- 
questions, weighs soul-interests, meditates upon 
eternal destinies, and prepares for assaults 
upon the citadels of wrong. 

The minister's study is larger than the room 
that contains his books and in which he com- 



THE MINISTER 

munes with God in prayer. His study includes 
all subjects, all worlds, all peoples, all ages, and 
all of God's plans for redemption. His horizon 
is larger than that line where earth and sky 
seem to meet and mark the limits of the world. 
There is no line of truth that may not run into 
his fountain of knowledge. If he confines him- 
self within the walls of his study, he will be 
narrow and contracted ; yet he should have such 
a study; and it should be the hotbed of his 
garden, the arsenal of his warfare, the pilot- 
house from which he looks over the sea of 
humanity and steers the ship of Zion. 

In his study books should be examined, great 
minds consulted, information gathered, prob- 
lems solved, and inspiration received for the 
duties of his calling. Richlieu says "that all 
great things are done in silence." Pilgrim's 
Progress was born in Bedford jail ; and some of 
Paul's great epistles were written in a Roman 
prison. But the minister should not use the 
forms in which he finds truth stored in books 
outside of the Bible. He should reduce all 

10 



IN HIS STUDY 

reading in the mill of his own mind to such 
fineness that it is meal and not corn. He should 
break up the crystallized thought of others as 
workmen break up granite and mix with sand 
and cement to manufacture concrete. They 
make a new substance out of old material, and 
the minister can do the same. He can use 
books, sermons, comments, magazines, and the 
Bible ; but he dare not copy them. He must 
make concrete all his own. He may create new 
archways that will sustain the tonnage of a 
nation's thought. He can rightly divide the 
word of truth. 

The study is not a place for rest or ease ; but 
a place of prayer, research, testing, decision, 
creation. Like the camp of the Romans the 
work here is twice as heavy as on the field. 
Here all the past, all the future, and all the 
live questions of the present, converge in the 
minister's mind like sun-rays in the sunglass. 
Here his mind and heart mature in the silence 
and deep reflections of his soul. Here is the 
place of growth. All growth is under hidden 

11 



THE MINISTER 

conditions. The germination of seed, the 
development of rootlets, real contact with soil 
and air, the forces that enter into life and burst 
out into flower and fruit, all work in silence and 
in darkness. Here self and God are discovered 
in their holiest relations, and character is crys- 
tallized in the quiet of the study. Nebuchad- 
nezzar exclaimed, as he paced his palace floor: 
"Is not this great Babylon that / have built?" 
"But the kingdom departed from him." The 
woman who was healed said "within herself" — 
within the secret chambers of her own soul — 
"If I may but touch His garments I shall be 
healed." The explosion in Vera Cruz was the 
result of the quiet loading of the shell in the 
factory. The Panama Canal was worked out by 
the engineer, and an act of Congress, before the 
thousands of tons of earth were removed and 
two oceans met and kissed each other at the 
cost of nearly four hundred millions. 

What sort of a man must the minister be in 
his study ? Sincerity and self-surrender to God 
should characterize the minister in his study. 

12 



IN HIS STUDY 

His heart must be engaged as well as his head. 
He must not only seek after human wisdom, but 
spiritual inspiration. He is not working out 
science, he is seeking a message from God. The 
mineral wealth of the world was fashioned in 
the quiet recesses of the mountains or under- 
neath the rocks of the plains long before the 
mines were opened or the iron was wrought into 
use. The Bessemer process fashions the steel 
rails that glisten across a continent and bear 
the tonnage of an empire. The chick comes forth 
after those brooding weeks of the mother, the 
most trying and exhausting of her life. It is 
brooding over the thoughts in the library, in the 
study, that brings fort'h new ideas to move 
mankind to Jesus Christ and a new life. Ideas 
are not born in the crowd. Great thoughts are 
born in solitude. Jesus retired from the multi 
tude to prepare Himself for great service and 
ministers can do no less. He spent most of that 
time in prayer. Napoleon spent whole nights in 
his tent mapping out his plans for battles and 
campaigns. Napoleon did not depend on the 

13 



THE MINISTER 

inspiration of the occasion to win battles. He 
worked out his plans in his tent. The minister 
ought to study t'he map of his own work, of his 
own country, of Bible lands, and of the whole 
world. This will give him a vision of missions 
and fire his heart with a zeal according to 
knowledge. The field is the world and the 
minister ought to know the field. Geography 
is close to the Bible. It is "The Land and the 
Book." 

The study is the place of prayer. There is no 
harder work than prayer; it is easier to read 
than to pray ; but prayer is of more importance 
than reading. Jesus spent w T hole nights in 
prayer. Prayer was the only exercise that drew 
from Him drops of blood. Prayer engages the 
whole being and it is the only effort that does. 
Study puts us in touch with all that is material 
and human; prayer puts us in touch with the 
spiritual and divine. Paul and Silas prayed at 
midnight, in the Philippian jail, and the 
Roman prison trembled and the doors opened; 
and the jailer trembled and opened his heart to 

14 



IN HIS STUDY 

let the Savior in. Thought touched the mine 
under the last ledge of rock in the Panama 
Canal, by an electric wire from Washington, and 
opened the isthmus between two great seas ; but 
it was the power of God that turned the Nile 
into blood and opened the Red Sea to set a 
nation at liberty. Moses got out of trouble 
every time by resorting to prayer. It was not 
his eloquence but his faith that made him the 
emancipator of millions. The world is slow to 
learn that knowing the truth sets men free. 
Daniel's habit of prayer was a power greater 
than the king's decree, and the lion's den could 
do him no harm. It was that quiet prayer 
chamber in Jerusalem that witnessed the noise 
and tongues of fire and, later, the conversion 
of three thousand souls. The scales never fell 
from Saul's eyes till he prayed; the prayer- 
chamber is the dark room where the image of 
Jesus Christ is developed in the soul. It is in 
this chamber where the care of the church 
weighs heavily upon his whole being, where the 
factious spirit among members clamors for 

15 



THE MINISTER 

solution; where poverty cries from rags, huts, 
and domestic broils ; where pride and ambition 
look in upon him with vulgar eyes; where 
shame threatens his church; and lynx-eyed 
jealousies and complaints fret his being so that 
he cannot study. Then his only resource is 
prayer. He must have a new sense of God's 
help; that "His grace is sufficient." There is 
no book on church methods that can tell him 
how to deal with these grave problems. He 
must get divine help not only for himself, but 
for those lives that fret his own. It was fasting 
and prayer that saved Esther, and the Jews in 
the hundred and twenty-seven provinces in the 
empire of Ahasuerus; it was prayer that held 
out the golden scepter and granted the queen's 
request. The study is the altar where the 
minister offers his sacrifices, makes his vows, 
communes with God, and renews his strength. 
The spirit said to Ezekiel, ' ' Go, shut thyself up 
within thy house * * * * but when I speak with 
thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say 
unto them. Thus saith the Lord." 3:24-27. 

10 



IN HIS STUDY 

There are times when the minister must retire, 
and keep silence, till God unlooses his tongue 
and puts words into his mouth and power in the 
words. His study is his waiting place for 
orders and a message. 

He stands between the living and the dead. 
His library is peopled from the past — Abraham, 
Moses, Elias, Paul, Luther, Elizabeth, Mary, 
Florence Nightingale, Victoria — a multitude 
which no man can number, who have come up 
through great tribulation and have washed 
their robes and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. Moses and Elias appeared with 
Jesus on the mount of transfiguration ; a mighty 
host surrounds me in my library. Peter, James, 
and John did not see as much nor hear as much 
as the minister in his library. Jesus is here, 
too, in the Bible and by the Spirit. There are 
more people in my library than in my church. 
They speak to me, they kindle the fires of my 
imagination, they quicken my faith, humble my 
pride, rebuke my wrong-doing and wrong- 
thinking, warn me against sin, and point my 

17 



THE MINISTER 

soul to the living Christ. I find tombs with 
angles, deserts with fountains, gardens with 
Saviors, prisons with praises, and crosses with 
crowns. Above the roar of the tempest, the flap 
of the split sails, the creak of the breaking 
timbers, and the cry of endangered men, I hear 
Jesus say: "Peace, be still." I hear Nebuchad- 
nezzar say: "I see four men loose, walking in 
the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; 
and the form of the fourth is like unto the Son 
of God. ' ' I hear Paul in the midst of darkness 
and the raging sea, say, "There stood by me 
this night the angel of God, whose I am and 
whom I serve, saying, Fear not." The past is 
a mighty host, their thought, faith, love, and 
lives still speaking to our own. The library is a 
transfiguration scene, crowning lofty summits, 
silently and sweetly speaking to the minister 
so as to inspire him with renewed strength and 
satisfaction that arms him for the good fight 
of faith. Beyond this teeming past are the 
living millions moving to and fro, loving and 
hating, helping and hindering, neglecting age, 

18 



IN HIS STUDY 

crushing childhood, desecrating the Sabbath, 
greedily preying upon their fellows, preparing 
for war and killing the flower of the age. The 
study should be the tower from which the 
minister looks out upon this age of living 
humanity, with all of its progress, religious 
movements, charity institutions, educational 
forces, its pleasure-loving and pleasure-seeking 
peoples, that he may come forth with a message 
of rebuke for sin, of hope for the despondent, 
and life for the lost. The minister should seek 
to interpret the present age in the light of the 
gospel and past civilizations. From his study 
as a tower, he should get his vision of mankind 
and God and then go forth to preach salvation 
to a sinning world. His sermon should be a 
message from God, supported by His word, 
fired by His Spirit, and delivered in the spirit 
of love. Lectures and tirades may have their 
place on the platform, but they should not 
come from the minister's study in place of a 
message from God. His study is the mint for 
purer gold. 

19 



CHAPTER TWO 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 



THE MINISTER IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 



THE Minister is a distinct personality from 
the personality of the MAN. Jesus was 
a man ; but He was more than a man ; he 
was the Son of God. He said and did much as 
a Son that He could not have done as a man. 
As God manifest in the flesh He said: "I am 
the light of the world. " As a man He said : " I 
am a man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief." Two distinct personalities were in 
Jesus Christ. Two distinct personalities are in 
the minister. He is a Man and a Minister. Jesus 
was man last. He descended from the highest 
to the lowest; the minister ascends from the 
lowest to the highest. Minister is higher than 
man, though man is only a "little lower than 
the angels, crowned with glory and honor." 
The minister is more than a man, and, therefore, 
he should be more in his personal life than a 



THE MINISTER 

man. His ministerial personality should repre- 
sent his high calling. 

The chief thing in the gospel dispensation is 
the personality of Jesus. "/ am the truth." 
"Come unto me." "He that believeth on we." 
"This is my son." The cross stands for the 
"crucified one." The old dispensation was 
legal, ceremonial, sacrificial, and symbolical; 
but, in the fulness of time, God sent forth His 
Son. The personal element in the gospel is the 
vital force in salvation. No matter what the 
theological concept of this personality may be, 
the spirit of Christianity would disappear, if 
this personal Savior were left out of the equa- 
tion of salvation. This same personal element 
is involved in salvation. "Son, daughter, give 
me thy heart," i. e., thyself. 

Jesus distinctly says> "As the Father hath 
sent me, so have I sent you." That must 
include a personal ministry. Pulpit ministra- 
tion is only one function of the minister. His 
personal life is the largest thing in his ministry. 
His personal character, habits, influence, attain- 

24 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 

ments, constitute the largest value in his 
ministry. In gunnery the rule is, that the gun 
should be a hundred times the weight of the 
projectile. In preaching the minister should be 
a hundred times weightier than his message. 
Jesus was always larger than His message or 
His miracle. What He did was never as large 
as what He was. No wonder Jesus spent thirty 
years in preparation and only three years in 
His public ministry. The most important thing 
in a minister is to prepare himself, We are all 
conscious that our ministerial weakness is in 
ourselves and not in the gospel. "The word of 
God is quick and powerful, and sharper than 
any twoedged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of 
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. " Yet we 
know that we are slow and weak and do not 
reach the hearts of men. Our sermons are often 
better than ourselves. The need of the age is 
not good sermons, but good ministers. We are 
wise enough but not harmless enough. We 



THE MINISTER 

have not fully appreciated the importance of 
ourselves in the ministry. The personal value 
appears most plainly in the personal fall of a 
minister. A brilliant ministry may collapse in 
the personal indiscretion of the minister. The 
majesty and glory of the ministry of Jesus was 
in His spotless personality. They attacked His 
teaching but found no fault in His personal life. 
The least attention is given to personal train- 
ing, though most important of all. Literary 
aod theological training are stressed in school 
and before committees, while personal life is 
left to the result of forces that work without 
direction. The minister's normal habits are 
the indexes to his real character as expressed 
in his outward life. Whatever others may do 
'he is not at liberty to indulge in games that 
waste time and contain no element of recreation. 
Keeping busy in good service satisfies the public 
mind and his own conscience. His habits 
should express his interest in people and in the 
gospel. "On the job" is a modern phrase that 
expresses what the public demands. No one 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 

objects to recreation and the minister might 
well take one day out of seven as his day of 
rest. Saturday or Monday seem to be the 
natural days from which to make his selection. 
He must cultivate the habit of sincerity among 
the people. There is no room for specials : he 
must indulge in no hard feelings: his normal 
attitude must be that of impartiality. His dis- 
position must not be churlish. He must not be 
grouchy. While he should be pleasant, he must 
not drop below the dignity of his high calling 
in Christ Jesus. 

Dress is more important in personal life than 
people imagine. Dress indicates stages in 
human progress. Trace British progress from 
the time when naked savages lined the shores of 
the British Isles till the present time and it will 
appear that dress is no mean part of that 
empire's greatness. Even in our own day sav- 
agry appears in our dress without the virtue 
that goes with savage stages of society. The 
tendency downward always appears in the 
fashion plates and the styles that force police- 

27 



THE MINISTER 

men to arrest women on the streets. The 
minister and even his family must set a 
standard of modest dress that common judg- 
ment approves. The minister himself must 
strike a medium ground in dress as well as 
other personal habits ; he must not dress in too 
clerical a fashion, and he must not put himself 
in the class with the dude, the sport, or society 
man. Simplicity, neatness, comfort, should 
characterize his dress. Gay colors, latest cuts, 
jaunty style, are out of place. Spotless linen 
is always in taste and a personal asset for the 
minister. Moreover the minister must not be 
led into the danger of "gay clothing. " Jas. 
2 : 3. His dress and his manner will go together 
and both should be inconspicuous. 

Business enters into the minister's life as well 
as all others. Here is a field of danger and 
opportunity. His life should be exemplary 
in this field as well as others. Business with 
the minister should come to him, in the necessi- 
ties of domestic life, and church enterprises. 
He should not court business nor seek wealth ; 

•?s. 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 

but in all his business duties he should be 
honest and fair in his dealings. It is a mistake 
for ministers to think they must keep pace with 
the styles and luxuries of the age. If possible, 
debt must be avoided. It is the peril of all 
men, but especially of the minister. Men will 
overlook almost everything sooner than an 
unpaid bill. His example here will mean much 
to the community. There is no better place for 
the minister to "deny himself and take up his 
cross" than here. He needs clothes, he needs 
books, he needs furniture, he needs food for his 
family. He is tempted to get them. Anybody 
will trust him till he quits paying. Remember 
Jesus "made Himself of no reputation, and 
took upon him the form of a servant and was 
made in the likeness of men. ' ' Phil. 2:7. It was 
this self-denial that made Jesus; though He 
* ' had not where to lay His head. ' ' The combi- 
nation of personal poverty, decency, honesty, 
and manhood, is the most valuable asset in the 
minister's life. Nowhere has a rich and stylish 
minister been of great value. "They left all 

29 



THE MINISTER 

and followed Him" is the greatest comment on 
the early apostles. We are not doing it now; 
but we ought to do it. The world never needed 
it more than at the present. Crowns bejewelled 
above the British crown in the tower of London 
await the families of ministers who live with 
him in the plain and simple life that helps the 
poor to be honest as well as pious. Extrava- 
gance is one of the dangers to religion of this 
age, and the minister's personal life counts for 
more t'han pastoral visit or sermon in this 
danger field. Extravagance in expenditures 
leads to extravagance in every line of life. 
Those who overspend will overspeak — overlive 
— and overpromise. No minister can preach 
with the incubus of debt upon him, nor with his 
family leading in the fashions of the day; 
downright honesty crowns learning, piety, and 
personal character. The minister cannot excel 
in business, or luxury, or even learning; his 
only field is to excel in personal life ; and here 
is the field of largest opportunity to represent 
Jesus Christ. 

30 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 

The minister is no less a social being than 
other men and his associations and affiliations 
will enter into his value among men. Jesus 
attended places of worship, funerals, marriage 
feasts, dinners, and suppers in private homes, 
and entered into the social life of His day, with 
all the ardor and sincerity of His nature. Min- 
isters may follow His example in all the rela- 
tions that represent the real life of their age ; 
but their ministerial value is reduced when 
they seek popularity through doubtful associa- 
tions in social entertainments, political contests, 
or sporting games. Paul entered the theater, 
but not as a spectator; "when the city was 
filled with confusion, they caught Paul's com- 
panions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and rushed 
them into the theater. When Paul would have 
entered in unto the people, the disciples suf- 
fered him not. " Acts 19 : 29, 30. The minister 
need not spend all his strength in war on danc- 
ing, card-playing, and theater-going from his 
pulpit ; but his social life must be a rebuke to all 
wrong-doing and an example for all sane living. 

31 



THE MINISTER 

No rule can be fixed for his social relations 
except he must not subject himself to adverse 
criticism by the pious nor be used as an excuse 
by the godless. Jesus identified himself with no 
sects, held Himself aloof from no class, lived 
worthy of the imitation of all and taught purity 
of speech, purity of thought, and love un- 
feigned. The minister may exercise his 
political rights as a citizen, but should avoid 
partizan controversies and associations, lest he 
divide the flock. His patriotism should never 
obscure his Christianity and his political views 
should not destroy his spiritual influence over 
men. His personal rights and ministerial duties 
do not conflict; but in all social relations his 
ministerial obligations are the largest of all. 
Paul was a great scholar, and a great Roman, 
but he was greatest as a minister. "What 
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for 
Christ." Phil. 3: 8. Political, educational, and 
reformatory opportunities should have no 
attraction for the real minister of Christ. 
There may be ministers called to these fields ; let 

32 



IN HIS PERSONAL LIFE 

every minister weigh that question well. Paul 
exhorts Timothy not to participate in "other 
men's sins" in the selection of ministers. He 
would thereby adopt the sins he overlooked. 
Then Paul exhorts him, "Keep thyself pure/' 
The personal life of the minister is the real 
asset in his ministry. The winebibber cannot 
teach temperance, the fornicator virtue, the 
debtor honesty, the spendthrift economy, nor 
the despondent man hope. The gospel runs 
through the minister as the city water through 
the earth and its purity will be determined by 
the minister's life. Amos came from the vine- 
yard; Elisha from the plow; Peter from the 
fishing smack; Matthew from the receipt of 
custom; and Paul from the office of a perse- 
cutor ; but they all represented personalities of 
great strength and loyalty to Jesus Christ. The 
schools cannot make ministers; they can only 
educate them. We think of armies, navies, and 
forts as our national defenses; but the real 
strength of the nation is in the shops, stores, 
fields, schools, churches, and homes of the 

33 



THE MINISTER 

interior where the arts of peace move on in 
regular activities, and souls fill temples with 
quiet praises. It is not the outward utterances 
from pulpit and platform that represent the 
real power of the ministry; but away back in 
the domain of 'his inner thought and affection, 
where character is crystallized and life is 
fashioned, that the minister becomes mighty in 
influence over men. The wealth of the world 
is not in the rumbling volcano sending forth 
smoke and fire ; but in the quiet mountains 
where God fashioned the coal, the iron, the lead, 
and the gold. The volcano attracts the 
reporter, the mine the investor. Ministers need 
not court popularity nor the applause of multi- 
tudes; let them, rather, furnish thought, exam- 
ple, devotion, and character worthy of appro- 
bation and imitation. Men who have under- 
taken to give us the ministery of Christ have 
called their writings "The Life of Christ." All 
biography follows this example. It is "The 
Life of Cromwell," "The Life of George 
Washington," "The Life of Luther," "The 
Life" should be the largest, the best thing of 

the minister. 

34 



CHAPTER THREE 



IN HIS PULPIT 



THE MINISTER IN HIS PULPIT 



THE minister's study and personal life 
enter into his pulpit ministrations as 
seed and cultivation enter into the har- 
vest. The pulpit is not the place where 
sermons are made, but the place of their deliv- 
ery. The minister in his pulpit is more than 
preacher, though that is his chief function. 
In his pulpit he is the leader of devotion, the 
director of worship, the representative of all 
the activities of the congregation. The prayers, 
the reading of the Scripture, the music, the 
attention and reverence of the people, all enter 
into the ministrations of the pulpit. The min- 
ister in his pulpit is the conductor of all forces 
that pray, sing, preach, offer gifts, and worship. 
Old Testament preachers had messages from 
God to the people. Jonah was instructed to 
' ' preach unto Nineveh the preaching that I bid 

37 



THE MINISTER 

thee." 3:2. The prophets were preachers of 
righteousness to the people. John the Baptist 
preached after long retirement and great prep- 
aration. Jesus Himself spent most of His life 
in preparation for His brief ministry. Pulpit 
is used once in the Bible. "Ezra the scribe 
stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had 
made for the purpose ; and Ezra opened the 
book." Neh. 8:4, 5. John and Jesus spoke 
often in t'he open and Jesus used Peter's boat 
for a pulpit. The pulpit now stands for the 
whole ministry of the Kingdom. The minister, 
in his pulpit, stands at the center of his minis- 
try. What he utters there determines his value 
in the kingdom. Here the public hears him, 
weighs him, and renders its verdict. 

The minister should be himself in his pulpit. 
He is neither an actor nor an elocutionist. He 
should not try to ape other ministers in thought, 
manner, or style. His own individuality is the 
only usable quantity for the Holy Spirit. 
Unless God utters a message through Him that 
could not be uttered by any other, he is self- 

38 



IN HIS PULPIT 

deceived or a deceiver. His personality is 
noVhere more conspicuous or more potent than 
in his pulpit. You may not be able to define the 
strength of his ministry. You cannot tell 
whether it is in the man or the message. It is 
really in both ; and the one would be powerless 
without the other. The name of Paul is power- 
ful. He was a distinct personality touching not 
only his own time, but all times. The printing 
press cannot eliminate the minister, gigantic as 
the printing press is. "It pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believed." 1 Cor. 1:21. Paul says: "My 
preaching was not with enticing words but in 
demonstration of the Spirit and of power.' ' 
1 Cor. 2 : 4. Preaching differs from all other 
human utterances in the source of the message 
and the character of the minister. Scientific or 
historic truth may be found and delivered with- 
out reference to the character of the author. 
An orator may portray great historic characters 
or events and be an atheist ; but a sermon must 
be uttered by clean lips. It is this high quality 

39 



THE MINISTER 

of character that makes the pulpit stand for all 
that is purest, highest, and holiest. Job asked : 
"Who can bring an unclean thing out of an 
unclean?" "Not one." Isaiah speaks of him- 
self as a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a 
people of unclean lips. Then he speaks of a 
seraphim bringing a live coal from the altar 
and laying it upon his mouth saying : c ' This 
hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is 
taken away and thy sin is purged." Then 
Isaiah was prepared to say: "Send me." The 
pulpit is not so much a place as a ministry. In 
coining money the metal must be of a certain 
fineness, a standard required by government. 
It must have the stamp of the nation that coins 
it. "Whose image and superscription is this?" 
The mint is the coining and stamping agency 
of government. The minister is called of God 
and ordained by the Spirit. In his pulpit he 
is himself called and ordained to this high 
office of preaching. No human society can 
make ministers. Counterfeiters never use pure 
metal, and man-made ministers are spurious 

40 



IN HIS PULPIT 

because man is not clothed with authority to 
call men into the ministry. Amos says : ' ' As I 
followed the flock, the Lord said unto me, Go 
prophesy unto my people." Isaiah was 
associated with kings and courts and God called 
him through a vision in the temple and said: 
"Go and tell this people." Saul's conversion 
and call to the ministry seem to have been 
almost simultaneous. Eemaining with the 
disciples a few days in Damascus, ' ' straightway 
he preached Christ in the synagogue. ' ' All his 
previous history pointed in an opposite direc- 
tion. The minister is, therefore, a unique per- 
sonality, differing essentially from all others in 
his call, his qualifications, his work, and his 
influence. 

In all ages men have respected their priests, 
followed their teachings, imitated their exam- 
ple, and feared their rebukes and warnings. 
This is conspicuous in all pagan religions — 
Confucianism, Mohammedanism, and Mormon- 
ism illustrate this. Roman Catholicism confirms 
this claim. Protestantism is less so because of 

41 



THE MINISTER 

the democratic ideas that dominate it; though 
the Protestant pulpit largely fashions the moral 
and social ideals and activities of the age. 
Hardly any institution can stand against the 
combined pulpit of Protestantism. Louisiana 
lottery disappeared under pulpit protest, and 
the saloon is doomed if the pulpit continues its 
"cry against" all wrong-doing. Jonah's 
method is not antiquated — it is the 
most modern pulpit utterance because it 
is God's method. The pulpit must 

"cry against" all wrong-doing. It would be a 
shame on the nation and a disgrace to the 
pulpit to make war on flies and mosquitoes and 
leave the saloon and the brothel. The minister 
in his pulpit can "cry against" all evils in 
terms of scripture and by authority of the Holy 
Ghost. He may say a "sinful nation," a "peo- 
ple laden with iniquity," or "thou art the 
man. ' ' The pulpit is no place for trivial speech, 
personal complaints, petty lectures on small 
questions; but the place for exposition of God's 
word, the treatment of great moral themes, the 

42 



IN HIS PULPIT 

appeal to the 'highest in human hearts, the 
comfort of those in trouble, and the invitation 
to all to come to Jesus for pardon and life. 
The pulpit is the place of authority; here the 
minister can say : "Thus saith the Lord," as the 
judge on the bench can say: "This is the law." 
It is this association of the minister and the 
pulpit that adds the weight of divine authority 
to his message. What the judge says in the 
store does not have the weight of what he utters 
on "the bench" in the courtroom. 

The minister should have "his pulpit" — the 
jmlpit that is open to him and for which he is 
responsible. His place is not in commerce, 
politics, the market-place. His ministry should 
not be subordinate to some other avocation ; all 
other avocations should be subordinate to his 
pulpit. Paul was a tent-maker; but preaching 
was his business. His pulpit was not in one 
house, one place, or even one nation. His whole 
life from his conversion was pulpit ministra- 
tion. Prisons became temples, wrecks became 
pulpits, scourges anointing for wider fields of 

43 



THE MINISTER 

usefulness. His learning put him before kings 
and philosophers, and his courage enabled him 
to speak to the mob from the stairway in the 
castle in Jerusalem. His religious convictions 
and utterances opened the way for his great 
messages. If beaten and dragged out of the 
city and cast upon the garbage heap on the 
dumping hill, he would come back by the grace 
of God and go on his way preaching the gospel. 
Paul calls this ministry a "high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus;" Phil. 3:14, or, "heavenly 
calling." It is difficult to conceive of one called 
into the ministry and not called into a pulpit. 
Jonah was called and sent to Nineveh; Amos 
was sent to his nation; Nathan was sent to 
David; Moses was sent to Egypt; Peter was 
sent to Caesarea ; Paul was sent to many cities 
and countries. It would seem a contradiction for 
the United States to call men into the navy and 
never assign them, when prepared, to a ship. It 
seems reasonable that men called of God to 
preach will be called of God to a field. Is it not 
possible for ministers to defeat God 's plans and 

44 



IN HIS PULPIT 

their own welfare by choosing a field or waiting 
for a "good opening. " Is not the smallest field 
large enough for the largest minister! Corne- 
lius and Peter were both under the direction of 
the same Spirit. Do not churches decide what 
sort of a minister will suit them without asking 
God to direct them in their choice f The pulpit 
is commercialized, socialized, and educated 
away from God. Minister and people are mak- 
ing contracts, and trying to run the church on 
"business principles. ' ' What do they mean by 
"business principles !" Do they mean surren- 
der to the will of God, or do they mean that 
which will satisfy their own notions and carry 
out their own ideas? The pulpit is nothing 
unless it represent God. 

The minister in his pulpit should never court 
popularity nor fear criticism. These are the 
Schylla and Charybdis between which ministers 
must pass after escaping other Sirens of the 
world. Popularity is a giant monster that 
greedily devours the worldly-minded. How 
often have we heard of the ' ' popular minister. ' • 

4fi 



THE MINISTER 

Can that be said of any of the prophets or 
apostles? Was not their ministry a keen knife 
in the sores of men and of nations? Is it not 
said that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of 
the church ?" Is not popularity the dream of 
vanity? To court popularity is to court a phan- 
tom and to lose out in the end. Sincerity 
endures longer than popularity. All popular 
fashions and popular men are short-lived. 
Criticism is the other rock of danger. Some 
ministers resent it: others are overwhelmed by 
it. The best way is to profit by it. It may 
enlighten the wise minister, show him his weak- 
ness, reveal his opportunity. It may be the 
result of green-eyed envy, ignorance, selfish- 
ness, or ambition. No matter what the source 
of criticism, it may be treated in such a good 
spirit, answered in such a faithful life, contra- 
dicted by such useful service as to really 
develop the stronger powers of fhe minister. 
"Jesus was oppressed, and He was afflicted; 
yet He opened not His mouth/' 

46 



IN HIS PULPIT 

Pilate said to Jesus: "Hearest thou not how 
many things they witness against thee?" "He 
answered him to never a word. ' ' Jesus did not 
court the best nor fear the worst. His pulpit 
had a cross in it, but He never left His pulpit. 
A crossless pulpit leads to a crownless life. 
"God forbid that I should glory save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul did not 
glory simply in the fact t'hat Jesus suffered on 
the cross; but that he had Ms cross: for he 
said: "I am crucified with Christ." Gal. 6: 14, 
2 : 20. He gloried that he was counted worthy 
to suffer in His name. The minister must have 
his cross in his pulpit and if cruel criticism nails 
him to it, he may glory in it ; but he should not 
challenge criticism any more than he should 
court popularity. His ministry should strive to 
do the will of God without reference to flattery 
or complaint. Sincerity and impartiality will 
add much to the pulpit. 

The minister's pulpit should speak the word 
— Paul's advice: "Preach the word, be urgent 
in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, 



THE MINISTER 

exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." 
2 Tim. 4:2. ' ' All Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion of God and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in right- 
eousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 
2 Tim. 3 : 16, 17. Modern preaching is often 
lacking in the WORD. Fads and fancies, reforms 
and social service, charities and endowments, 
political problems and scientific questions, the 
topics of the day, furnish themes for pulpit 
treatment. These may all be used to illustrate 
the Word, but not to substitute for the Word. 
The Word is the only thing "that is quick and 
powerful, and sharper than any twoedged 
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of 
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, 
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 
the heart." Heb. 4:12. Other topics pierce 
the head, the word the heart; never mind that 
the "time will come when they will not endure 
sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts will 

48 



IN HIS PULPIT 

heap to themselves teachers, having itching 
ears ; and they shall turn away their ears from 
the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But 
watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do 
the work of an evangelist, make full proof of 
thy ministry. ? ' 2 Tim. 3 : 3-5. The pulpit needs 
the genuine minister in this age. Any man can 
run with the crowd, drift with the current, 
respond to the tendency of the age. It takes 
an Amos or an Isaiah to rebuke the sin of the 
age. No intellectual sword can conquer the 
evils of the age; only the sword of the Spirit 
can cut to the vitals and win men to God. The 
pulpit is not a show window to be changed with 
every new fashion that invades society ; it is a 
lighthouse sending forth rays of light the same 
in every age. No matter what weather or what 
ships pass the light is the same ; this is the one 
institution that must send out rays of spiritual 
light. The lighthouse tower stands on a firm 
foundation, surrounded by shifting sands or 
changing waters, and sends out its light over 

49 



THE MINISTER 

calm or raging seas; so the pulpit is not 
changed by the evanescent movements among 
men ; but holds up the word of God to light up 
the pathway of safety for voyagers over life's 
sea amid storms and darkness. 



50 



CHAPTER FOUR 



IN HIS PARISH 



THE MINISTER IN HIS PARISH 



THE minister is more than a preacher. His 
work is not Sunday service; it is all 
week labor. It is no small task to per- 
form the duties of a minister. Jesus came into 
contact with large groups, small groups, fam- 
ilies, and individuals. Jesus was a minister. 
There are some preachers who are not minis- 
ters. Men who teach, or edit, or manage insti- 
tutions, or fill diplomatic places. Some of them 
are great preachers — great occasion preachers. 
But this address is dealing with ministers, not 
preachers only. A good minister is larger than 
a great preacher, because he deals with more 
phases and needs of humanity. The great min- 
isters of the world have been great teachers and 
great burden-bearers. Jesus was the great 
example. He said Himself: "I came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister." Paul's 



THE MINISTER 

description of his experience in 2 Cor. 11 : 23, 
' ' Of the Jews five times, received I forty stripes 
save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once 
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a 
night and a day I have been in the deep: in 
journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils 
of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, 
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, 
in perils among false brethren; in weariness 
and painfulness, in watchings often, in cold and 
nakedness. Besides those things that are with- 
out, that which cometh upon me daily, the care 
of all the churches." The modern minister 
is not exposed to the same kind of perils as 
Paul ; but as large a variety ; and the care of his 
parish is an everpresent weight that tries his 
strength of body, mind, and heart. Opposition 
to the gospel is less than in the past, but indif- 
ference is almost as perilous to the kingdom. 
Pride, vanity, self-indulgence, and luxury, 
stand in the way of spiritual progress. In fact, 
ministers themselves are in danger of loss of 

54 



IN HIS PARISH 

spiritual vitality by reason of the ease by which 
they are surrounded. If any worker needs 
robustness, a little hardship, it is the minister. 
Parishioners often think more about the minis- 
ter's dress than his sermons; more about his 
manners than his character: more about his 
living than his life. 

Ministers ought to identify themselves with 
their congregations so as to enter into all their 
experiences. Jesus " emptied Himself" and 
took upon Him the form of a servant." But 
this is not the modern idea ; it is that the minis- 
ter must be a "good mixer." Jesus was no 
mixer. Light does not mix with darkness. 
Right does not mix with wrong. The doctor 
does not mix with diseased ones. Jesus came 
close to all sorts of sinners ; but He maintained 
His matchless purity. His sympathy was so 
genuine, His love was so great, His life was so 
helpful, that the common people heard him 
gladly. The minister should come close to men, 
but not mix with men in the sense of a "hail 
fellow well met." There is a dignitv and a 



THE MINISTER 

gentleness, a loftiness and a humility that goes 
with every true ministry. The minister should 
not be so high as to make the lowest stand in 
awe of him ; nor so low as to make the highest 
feel no moral fear of him. The best should love 
him and the worst should respect him ; and all 
should feel at home in his presence. 

You have seen the cart going about the city 
gathering up the waste and unsanitary heaps 
piled up on streets and back alleys. There is 
much accumulation of trouble, doubt, and mis- 
understanding in every congregation. Heaps 
Gf gossip, piles of imagination, pools of bad 
feeling, thoughts and hates that poison the 
social atmosphere and sicken church members. 
The minister is a " carter ' ' going among his 
people to gather up this waste and this deleteri- 
ous matter. Sometimes he need say but very 
little. His value is in his ability to listen sym- 
pathetically, to load up his mental cart with 
what overloaded lives will tell him. Men can- 
not carry their own burdens alone ; that is the 
reason Jesus "carries our sorrows." Many 

56 



IN HIS PARISH 

people have troubles they dare not tell their 
neighbors; it would make matters worse like 
throwing bones, cans, feathers, and egg shells 
into the neighbor's yard; but it is safe to tell 
it to the minister; and the minister should be 
so near his parish that all will feel like telling 
their inner life to him. When he leaves the 
house he "carts away" their troubles. If he 
dumps it out in the neighborhood it only makes 
matters worse ; his dumping-ground should be 
beyond the pale of his parish. There is no 
better and no larger work than this for the 
minister to perform. Many a troubled life has 
been relieved of burdens and sorrows, in this 
way, by the minister who did nothing but listen. 
Broken-hearted mothers with drunken hus- 
bands, wayward sons, disgraced daughters, 
have found the friendly and sympathetic min- 
ister a source of sweet comfort as they have 
poured into his ears woes enough to crush life 
out of them. Pastoral calls in elegant parlors, 
teas and dinners in mansions, where intelli- 
gence and hospitality feast the minister, are not 



THE MINISTER 

the only places where the minister's life counts 
in his parish ; though these furnish him an 
opportunity to extend help to hearts that carry 
burdens sometimes larger than their fortunes. 

But his ears may be open to other than tales 
of woe and current topics. Many men in t'he 
church, and out of the church, have views and 
experiences which they love to tell to the min- 
ister. They have brooded over some passage of 
scripture, some personal vision, some business 
or domestic experience, until it burns in their 
being. The minister is the one to whom they 
love to tell their story. It may help the man to 
be more religious and the minister to preach 
more effectively. His teaching is broadened 
and deepened, his power over men is increased 
because they have led him into new fields and 
new opportunities. No experience has much 
force till it is told to others. Witnessing for 
Jesus Christ strengthens the believer. "Go 
home to thy friends and tell what great things 
Jesus has done for thee." Even telling objec- 
tions may lead to acceptance. Causes win in 

58 



IN HIS PARISH 

debate by allowing the opposition to speak. It 
will make an angry man friendly to allow him 
to abuse you in his own angry way. He talks 
of his anger. The mouth speaks out of the 
abundance of the heart ; and hot words are like 
pus from a wound — let t'hem out and get relief. 
Do not undervalue ear service ; it is not like 
"lip service" an abomination. Jesus always 
permitted the afflicted, the troubled ones, to 
tell Him their story. He even permitted the 
men to tell on the woman; but they went out 
ashamed of themselves and He said to her. ' l Go 
and sin no more;" and the presumption is that 
she did not. 

The minister in his parish should be benevo- 
lent, not only 'helping the destitute, but in 
bearing with peculiar people. Some good peo- 
ple are eccentric and almost every parish has 
this class. They are always suggesting what 
the minister and the church ought to do. They 
have some pet plan that no one could work. 
They hold strange views of certain passages of 
scripture. They tell you why the church fails. 

m 



THE MINISTER 

They know certain bad things that they cannot 
tell. They have been ignored or mistreated by 
a leading member. They contribute nothing 
but words. They come just before preaching 
with new tales of calamity. They stuff you with 
stuff. Now the minister must use benevolence 
in judgment, discretion in treatment, and love 
within. This quality in the minister has to be 
cultivated. He must be all things to all men. 
Not do as all men do, but be adequate to all 
men, adjustable to all men. The hardest task 
for the minister is in his parish. The com- 
plaints and pessimism, the excuses and indif- 
ference, the immorality and stinginess, the 
domestic infelicities and dishonesty, continually 
fret his righteous soul; but he must endure all 
for the gospel's sake, and not his own. In order 
to meet these conditions in patience, sweet 
spirit, and hope, he will need much prayer, 
much spiritual help. 

He must have no pets, no partial feelings, no 
special friends. His parish should be his minis- 
terial family ; and he should love and treat all 



IN HIS PARISH 

alike. Their sorrows become his sorrows, their 
joys his joys, their adversities and prosperities 
his own. His real life should be a model for 
their life ; he should not walk on stilts nor wear 
any mask. Partiality is as bad as neglect. His 
life teaches as well as his sermons; and is 
understood better. He is no dictator, making 
rules for life; but a guide pointing the way 
along which each one must walk in his own 
way and on his own feet. He is nobody's con- 
science and everybody's light. His spirit is 
more than his acts. The parish watches nothing 
so close as the minister; quotes no other so 
often; and chooses no other as exemplar for 
their children and themselves so naturally. 
They watch his life and follow that more than 
his words. One of the most striking things in 
the ministry of Jesus was, "Follow me." Any 
minister who can say that has reached the high- 
est place in his ministry. It is easy to say, l ' Do 
this;" it is harder to say, "Follow me;" but 
that is the ideal minister in his parish. 

61 



THE MINISTER 

The minister should not only touch the life of 
his parish but the property of his parish. He 
need not tease and urge individuals to give for 
things he deems of most importance; but he 
might lay great and worthy objects before 
them in such fashion as to increase their sense 
of stewardship and their obligation to worthy 
causes in need. This may be done by his own 
example, his pulpit ministrations, and his per- 
sonal intercourse with his people. AVhat the 
minister does counts above what he says. He 
can do nothing that will interest and enlist 
liberal donations from all, but he can do 
enough to secure ample support for causes and 
institutions dependent upon the church. He 
should avoid requests that provoke denial, for 
that will lessen his power over wealth. It is 
easy to blame the rich and pity the poor. The 
principle of giving is the lesson to impress, and 
the manner of giving left to the individual who 
gives. Do not provoke the unjust criticism that 
the preacher is "always after money/' Sensi- 
ble men know that money is essential to the 

H2 



IN HIS PARISH 

maintenance and extension of the gospel and 
the cultivation of a sensitive conscience and a 
worshipful soul will bear fruit in due time. 

Human distinctions often bar the way of real 
ministerial help. The rich embarrass the min- 
ister by their surroundings and the poor excite 
a morbid sympathy; both, alike need spiritual 
sympathy and help ; and that is the very thing 
the minister can give. Jesus set a good example 
when He went to the house of rich Zacchaeus. 
That man had no friends; and it is too often 
true of the rich ; but Jesus went as a minister 
and 'his heart surrendered and salvation came 
to his house. Put the ministerial visit to the 
rich in place of the social call. Their hearts 
long for genuine spiritual interest. Do not 
think the poor want bread; they want the 
bread of life ; they want soul-touch, human- 
touch, a friendly interest in t'heir life. Nobody 
can give this so well as the minister. The poor 
should never be embarrassed in the presence of 
the minister, and the minister should never be 
embarrassed in the presence of the rich. Human 

63 



THE MINISTER 

fear and human taste have marred many a min- 
ister's usefulness. He is not dealing with con- 
ditions and environments alone; but with 
souls ; and ' ' all souls are mine ' ' saith the Lord. 
It is this soul-power and this soul-touch that 
carries influence in the parish for good. Many 
can resist argument who dare not resist life. 
Many reject appeals who surrender to love. 
The minister's love wins where his learning 
fails. The heart is the center of being, while 
mind is onlv a function of life. 



CA 



CHAPTEE FIVE 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 



THE MINISTER IN HIS COMMUNITY 



THE minister's sphere is larger than his 
own parish. "The field is the world,"" 
and he is related to the whole field. It 
would be as illogical as it is unscriptural for a 
minister to care for his own parish and leave 
the regions beyond to the missionaries in for- 
eign lands. But this address deals chiefly with 
those near-by relations that involve the minis- 
ter's visible life. 

His relation to other ministers is one of 
equality. No matter what education and what 
forms of ordination induct them into church 
relations the highest position is that to which 
ministers are called and ordained by the Holy 
Ghost. Any superiority claimed by one class of 
ministers, above another class of ministers, is 
of human origin and unsupported by Scripture 
or historic facts. The highest call and the 



THE MINISTER 

highest ordination is by the Spirit of God. 
Paul was never ordained by the church ; in fact, 
the church refused to accept him at first. This 
principle of equality should be recognized by all 
ministers. The question of a closed pulpit 
might be justified by church polity, but not by 
the word of God. Jesus went into Jewish syna- 
gogues though the synagogue was not orthodox 
in the gospel sense. It is not a question of 
intellectual orthodoxy, but of spiritual life. 
Other ministers should be accorded genuine 
recognition in our hearts and in our churches. 
The one should be as open as the other. 

The presumption is that this subject includes 
ministers of one's own denomination as well as 
other denominations. It includes all ministers 
of Jesus Christ. The minister's relation to them 
should be fraternal, frank, co-operative. Con- 
gregations follow ministers more than either 
knows. Unbrotherly ministers estrange congre- 
gations and weaken Christianity. It is not the 
divisions of Protestantism so much that weaken 
its force as the ignorance and unbrotherliness 

68 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 

of ministers ; and that sometimes inside the pale 
of the same denomination. Petty jealousies, 
unholy ambitions, political scheming, and 'hos- 
tile attitudes have defiled the ministry and 
reduced church efficiency. Fraternal relations 
must not be feigned, but frank, growing 
out of heartfelt genuine brotherly love. 
This feeling may be cultivated like any other 
Christian grace ; and no minister should wait 
for others to make the advance. If snubbed, do 
not recognize it. Persist in brotherly advances 
and win out in your own soul, if you do not 
with other ministers. Jesus did not agree with 
all men, nor was He well received by all ; but He 
was genuinely fraternal and affectionate 
towards all men. Ministers should be known, 
as the early Christians were known, by their 
love for one another. Co-operation is a law of 
nature, a law in modern business, and should 
be a law among ministers. The Federal Coun- 
cil of the Churches of Christ in America has 
undertaken the Herculean task of cultivating 
this principle, not only among ministers, but 

0!) 



THE MINISTER 

among denominations; and wonderful results 
are flowing from this movement. In every 
community, ministers should co-operate in all 
common interests of the kingdom : such as tem- 
perance, Sabbath observance, social virtue, 
charity. Some things are too large for one 
minister, yet easy for all. In some communities 
ministers are less cordial than business men or 
society women; but it should be remembered, 
always that ministers are responsible for the 
unbrotherly feeling, unrighteous treatment, and 
unchristian spirit among churches and people. 
Negative wrong often counteracts positive good. 
Individual churches lose as well as whole com- 
munities by ministerial aloofness or antago- 
nism. The gospel lived is more potent than the 
gospel preached. This is seen in the life of 
Jesus who came to fulfil the law. His personal 
life was more than the ten commandments or 
the Sermon on the Mount. 

Ministerial association is essential to these 
conditions. It is not time wasted for ministers 
to meet and exchange views and cultivate per- 

70 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 

sonal attachments. They will learn from one 
another and inspire one another. It will har- 
monize their pulpit ministrations and justify 
their association. 

Churches watch ministers in their relation to 
other churches than their own. Proselytism is 
one inexcusable fault in ministers. Were it 
right to win members from one church to 
another, it would add nothing to the Kingdom. 
It is ecclesiastical gambling, one gains, another 
loses; nothing is added. Besides this, it dis- 
gusts intelligence not to say piety. The min- 
ister who enters another's flock and wins 
members is a thief and a robber. If members 
change, for reasons of their own, it is their 
matter and no blame attaches to the minister. 
It is the minister's business to look after the 
lost and all know there are many of them. His 
w r ork is to save sinners ; membership is second- 
ary. This remark is made because it is one of 
the hard lessons to learn and harder to practice. 
In revival results it is difficult for the minister 
to be willing for converts to go to another 

71 



THE MINISTER 

church, but let him grow in that direction. The 
difficulty is not in winning members, but in 
holding and developing them. 

Consideration for other churches, in planning 
for one's own, should enter into the equation 
of relation to them. It would be discourteous 
to hold some great social or musical affair in 
the midst of a revival in another church, in the 
same community. As far as possible all plans 
outside of regular services should include other 
churches. Churches should be neighborly insti- 
tutions. Even social courtesy would call off a 
dance next to a home darkened by a death. 
Churches are really in a position to set stand- 
ards of social courtesy and to do it in such 
genuine fashion as to teach great lessons by 
great kindnesses. Ministers should keep in 
touch with other churches and set an example 
worthy of imitation. 

The minister can do much good by visits to 
services in other churches. Congregations 
appreciate it more than ministers imagine. 
AYhile modern opinion feels that ministers are 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 

not. held in the same respect as in former days, 
yet that view is not sustained by facts any more 
than that religion is declining, because people 
do not shout in meeting. Intelligence reduces 
noise and distance. Ministers are closer to the 
people now, but not less regarded, if their lives 
represent real ministerial worth and fraternity. 
A visit to a funeral, a special service, a mar- 
riage, any meeting is almost a personal visit to 
the individual members. The church is ignorant 
of herself and this multiplies the spiritual rea- 
sons for such visits and intercourse. The min- 
ister is more than an individual and must do 
most of his service in a public capacity. 
Exchange of pulpits, where church polity does 
not bar the way, has value in this matter of 
enlightenment and fortification. Business 
associations look to the common good and 
churches need this for progress. Any man or 
institution that lives within itself becomes case- 
hardened. Even crabs throw off their shells 
to grow larger ; and the chick comes out of the 
shell to grow in the barnyard. We might intro- 



THE MINISTER 

duce interchurch lines as well as interurban 
lines. The ocean flows toward the rivers and 
the rivers toward the tides; a stagnant sea 
would mean a dead sea; and a stagnant river 
would mean a river of death; flowing together 
they enrich the valleys and give health to conti- 
nents. When a minister turns a good current 
into another church that church meets it with a 
purifying tide and good feeling. Never extend 
ministerial courtesy for popularity: do it 
because it is Christian. 

The minister is related to the community as 
well as to churches. The community is the 
largest body near by him. There is nothing so 
keen-eyed and so heartless as the public. It 
never nails its victims to the cross with tack 
hammers. It wields a sledge hammer with the 
arm of a Hercules and drives great spikes 
through its victim. But the gentleness of giant 
strength is the tenderest of all. There is no 
water so gentle and so graceful in its move- 
ments as the thin wavelets of the mighty ocean 
as they smoothe the tiny grains of sand on the 

74 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 

white strand. A baby may paddle in the gentle 
waters. The sun would consume the world as 
your stove the paper you throw into it ; yet his 
beams touch the tiniest flower with a gentleness 
that dries up the dewdrop in its bright face and 
fills its life with sweetness. The big fireman 
lifts the babe from the burning house with 
hands that might grace an angel: though with 
those same strong arms he seizes the resisting 
burglar and leads him to prison. That huge 
thing we call "the public" passes judgment on 
ministers and judges Christianity by them. The 
public reads papers, men, current events. The 
public does not read the Bible. Ministers, Sun- 
day-school teachers, invalids, and decrepits 
read the Bible. The public reads the "living 
epistles read and known by all men." The 
ministers are the pages read most thoroughly 
and most often. Here is the minister's largest 
opportunity. He is the latest edition of Chris- 
tianity. He circulates in society. They discuss 
him around the fireside, in the political meeting, 
in the saloon. He is not simply a clergyman, he 



THE MINISTER 

is a man of God. The minister cannot preach 
to the community from his pulpit. Many people 
never enter church. He cannot visit every 
home, the task is beyond any one person. How 
shall he reach the community? By a life that 
contains all the essential elements of Christian 
manhood. Is he lazy? The community knows 
it. Does the ledger show him in debt? Every 
body knows it. Is he socially indiscreet? It is 
the community gossip's feast. Does he neglect 
the poor and ignorant? The air is full of it. 
No matter what he is, or what he is not ; he is 
known and many estimate the gospel and the 
church by him. Here is a field large enough for 
all his power of influence. He need not know 
more about any one thing than anybody else, 
but he should know about more things than any 
other person in the community. His life must 
interpret his teaching, and his experience must 
touch God and humanity, not a few people. 
Jesus saved but one man in Gadara, but He 
touched the whole community. 

7<; 



IN HIS COMMUNITY 

The minister may visit the sick, bury the 
dead, and help the destitute outside of his par- 
ish, with the same sympathy and willingness as 
he ministers to those in his own congregation. 
Respond to all calls of real need and do it in 
the name of Jesus Christ, and not in the interest 
of your own church. 

The minister does not have to own property, 
do business, hold office, or belong to lodges to 
fill his true relation to the community. He is 
called to the task of living before the commun- 
ity all the virtues and graces that can cleanse 
the heart, purify politics, make honest business, 
expel evils from society, and cultivate a sensi- 
tive conscience. He deals with individuals ; but 
his largest work is for the community. A nega- 
tive view of his relation to the commuity will 
more clearly express his value. Eliminate the 
minister entirely from the community; let him 
fail in honesty, virtue, industry, or humility, 
and see what remains. He is a moral force, a 
spiritual personality, a divinely chosen teacher, 
a living example in the community. Every 



THE MINISTER 

working man ought to do better work, every 
home ought to be happier, every business house 
ought to be more honest, every neighbor ought 
to be more neighborly, every life ought to be 
purer, because the minister lives and moves and 
preaches in the community. His value is not in 
what he has, what he does, or what he says, but 
in what he is. A live horse has a value all his 
own. A dead horse does a damage all his own. 
The minister need not get rich himself, but the 
community ought to be richer because he is 
in it. 



78 



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